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December 2016

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In a u-turn, online fashion retailer Myntra will be re-launching its desktop next month to stem falling sales, a year after it adopted the app-only strategy.

Myntra’s decision is indicative of how the mobile-only strategy fell short of the desired results. The company will launch its desktop website on June 1.

Myntra, which is owned by India’s top e-commerce player Flipkart, had attributed the decision to the manifold growth in traffic from smartphones, which prompted it to go 'mobile-only' in May 2015.

The e-tailer said the u-turn in its decision was based on consumer feedback and launch of new categories like home furnishing and jewellery.

When Myntra went app-only last May, it was looking to phase out its web presence gradually over the course of the year. But sales soon dropped as consumers did not make transition to buying over apps as easily as the company expected. To overcome the slump, Myntra re-introduced its mobile website by December 2015 as a pilot and formally launched it in February this year.

Myntra's CEO Ananth Narayanan said the decision to revert to a desktop presence was due to customers wanting to have a choice. "It was a bold experiment, but all such moves are not right and we accept that. There is a segment of Indian consumers which is looking to make purchases over desktops and we wanted to give them the choice."

Narayanan said Myntra's app had gained on the back of the company's decision of going mobile-only as it now has far superior engagement features and offers an overall better user experience.

Ironically, when Myntra shut its web presence it was drawing 80 per cent of its traffic and 70 per cent of sales from its mobile app before the sales began to slow down.

In 2014,Myntra mopped up a revenue of Rs 758 crore during the financial year 2014-15 with almost a similar figure of losses at Rs 740 crore, according to documents filed with the registrar of companies (RoC). (SH)